Natalia Tells Rafe
by Choice Creations
Summary: Now that Rafe is home, Natalia has the challenge of telling him the truth about Otalia. What will be the outcome of this revelation? The fate of Otalia depends on it. Will it bring Otalia one step closer or will it send them two steps back?
1. Chapter 1

Now that Rafe is home, Natalia has the challenge of telling him the truth about Otalia. What will be the outcome of this revelation? The fate of Otalia depends on it. Will it bring Otalia one step closer or will it send them two steps back?

* * *

After a week of long, restful nights in his new home at the farmhouse, and after several days unmarred by routine escorts with parole officers at his heels, one morning Rafe is roused by comforting aromas that wrap around his heart and awaken his belly. With eyes barely open, Rafe slumps downstairs and enters the kitchen.

"Wow, mom, what's all this?" Rafe says, rubbing his eyes. "Pancakes, sausages, scrambled eggs. Oh my god, Ma, cinnamon rolls?"

"I made all your favorites," Natalia beams, dimples pierce into her cheeks.

"Is it Christmas or something and I forgot? I didn't get you a present," Rafe says feigning disappointment.

"Sit down," Natalia giggles. "Sit."

"Ma, you know I can't eat all this," Rafe settles into a chair at the table. "Being in prison got me on this schedule; eat light, workout, run."

"Just eat what you can. You're home now. Don't talk about that place anymore," Natalia says waving away the past year which she wishes she could forget. She looks lovingly at Rafe as he heaps food onto his plate.

"It's good to be home," Rafe says.

"Can you believe it?" Natalia says, scrunching her nose and raising her shoulders as she looks around the kitchen. "This is our home, Rafe."

"We'll never have to live with the Spauldings again," Rafe mumbles with a mouthful of food. "Or live in an apartment again. This is good. Everything's different now."

"A lot of things have...changed since you...," Natalia contemplates. "Where we live... people... Rafe?"

"Ma?"

Natalia pulls a chair from the table and moves it closer to Rafe as she sits down, saying, "We never had a chance to talk about, to really talk about Frank and I -"

"Not working out. Ya, I know Ma, it's all right, you weren't ready or something."

"When I left Frank...at the church...," Natalia says clearing her throat. "It wasn't because I didn't care about him. Frank is a wonderful man. But-"

"Ya, he's great, Ma. You know, if it wasn't for him, I'd still be at the rooming house instead of home," Rafe says chewing in between each word.

"And I'll always be grateful for what he's done for you, for us. But I-"

"I'm going to learn a lot from him, you know, now that he's my mentor," Rafe says as he puts another forkful of food in his mouth. "He has the best career, he lives his life right."

"Yes, and that's what I want for you...and for myself; to live my life right and...honestly," Natalia says as she shifts the empty plates away from Rafe and brings the food-filled dishes closer to him. "So I left Frank because I realized that I cared about someone else...more. And that wouldn't have been fair to him, to Frank."

"Really? Whoa, who is it? I mean, Frank's great and all but, you know, you should be happy. You should be happy with whomever you're with."

"Well," Natalia smiles. Her brown eyes brighten, her dimples deepen. "I'm definitely happy."

"Oh my god, Ma. Look at you, you're all glowing and stuff," Rafe stops eating to really look at his mother. "So who's the lucky guy who's making you look like you just won a million bucks or something. Oh my god, I've never seen you like this, not since Gus."

"Well it's a little more complicated than that."

Rafe's eyebrows knit together; a question clouds his expression.


	2. Chapter 2

"It's Olivia," Natalia clears her throat. She looks Rafe right in the eye and says, "We're together."

"What do you mean? Olivia doesn't live here any more," Rafe chuckles nervously. "She lives at the Beacon with Emma."

"What I mean is...," Natalia momentarily puts her head in her hands, covers, then reveals her face. "We love each other, Rafe. Olivia and I. We -"

"Ya, whatever, of course you do. You're like best friends," Gus says as he puts his fork down on the table and crosses his arms against his chest. "You've been through a lot together especially with Gus, you know, and Olivia has his heart and-"

"Rafe! I'm in love with Olivia."

Rafe stops talking.

Natalia takes a deep breath and continues, "And she loves me too...like Gus."

Rafe stares absently at Natalia for what seems to be an eternity. He abruptly pushes his chair back, away from the table, stands up and paces the kitchen.

"You mean..." Rafe says walking from the table to the sink and back again. "Does that mean...you and her...are you-"

"No, it doesn't mean what you think," Natalia says. "Listen. Please listen -"

"Because you're not, right?" Rafe says, stopping to glare at Natalia. "Not you, Ma. Not my mother."

"What matters is who I am. I'm still your mother, Rafe. I haven't changed. I'm still the same person who makes your favorite meals, worried myself sick about you every minute that you were away-"

"Because if you are -"

" -who taught you how to be a young man when your dad wasn't around."

"So now what? First Frank, now Olivia? Olivia's going to take Gus's place?"

"No Rafe, it's not like that, it's not like that at all. She respects you and never wants to come between us. But she loves me Rafe in a way I never imagined possible. And I love her. She wants us, I want us, to be together, like-"

"Okay, I don't need to hear this. I don't want to hear this," Rafe says putting his hands over his ears. "This is a joke, right?"

"I thought you wanted me to be happy, Rafe?" Natalia says as she stands up to face her son. "And when we're together, Olivia and I, and even with little Emma, I'm the happiest I've ever been in my life. I feel like we're a complete family now, especially now that you're home too."

"So what? You and Olivia? We're a family? What the-?" Rafe grabs clumps of his curly thick hair in his hands. "So what, is Olivia going to teach me how to be a man?"

"Rafe! I raised you to be a young man with respect, with love," Natalia says as her voice catches. "And an open heart."

"Ya well, whatever. Welcome home to you, too."

Rafe storms out of the farmhouse. The porch door slams as Natalia sits back down with her head in her hands. She barely notices the warm tears streaming down her palms and down her wrists staining the wood dark on the kitchen table.


End file.
